Incarceration as a Gateway to Wonder in the Poetry of Ahmed Fouad Negm

Ahsan Ul Haq

Ahsan Ul Haq

Keywords: Ahmed Fouad Negm, prison/jail, incarceration/imprisonment, revolution, poetry

Abstract

Ahmed Fouad Negm (1929-2013), was an Egyptian poet writing poetry in colloquial Arabic. He is one of the most celebrated revolutionary poet of Egypt. Negm was arrests and imprisoned multiple times for his outspoken and dissent voice. It was behind the prison walls that he found his voice. His prison poetry has strong impact on the minds of Egyptian folk, and inspires resistance against the dictatorship and regimes. Negm, remains the most popular and vernacular poet of Egypt. Typifying the artist’s progress, from inside the prison/jail Negm continues to speak for the voiceless Egyptians. This paper is an attempt study his prison poetry, and how jail/prison infused spark in his art. The paper will examine some of the best prison testimonials translate in English.

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Author Biography

Ahsan Ul Haq

Ahsan Ul Haq has completed his masters in English Literature from Barkatullah University Bhopal. He is currently pursuing his PhD from the Department of the English University of Kashmir, Srinagar. His primary research area is Prison Literature. He has qualified SLET (State Level Eligibility Test) from University of Kashmir and NET (National Eligibility Test) three times. Moreover, he is a columnist, writing for several leading dailies like Greater Kashmir, Rising Kashmir and Kashmir Times.

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